Young Leaders Meet, Discuss Real Issues and a Sustainable Tomorrow in Forums Across the Country
August 2019
Participants to the 7th Asian Youth Forum stand together for a photograph. The Asian Youth Forum brings together young leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region to discuss the latest, most pressing issues in development. Photograph © WWF-Philippines
A week of activities turns the spotlight to the youth as leaders for a greener future.
In celebration of International Youth Day, young representatives from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines attended the 7th Asian Youth Forum: Establish. Equip. Engage., from the 12th to the 14th of August at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Mandaluyong City.
The Asian Youth Forum is an ADB-led engagement held in partnership with ADB Youth for Asia, PLAN International, Asia Pacific Youth Exchange Manila, Inc. and AIESEC, that bridges youth leaders from across the Asia-Pacific to discuss key challenges facing the region. Speaker sessions and breakout events covered contemporary issues in sustainable development, while a design challenge was held as a culmination of the event’s topics. Across the three days, young leaders were given a platform to discuss and present solutions for a sustainable and equitable tomorrow.
Young staff from WWF-Philippines attended the forum, as well as WWF-Philippines National Youth Council (NYC) Members Gab Mejia and Allen Lemence. The NYC is WWF-Philippines’ effort to engage future generations through fellow youth leaders who promote and advocate for the holistic conservation of the environment.
“It was helpful that we all came from different backgrounds. That kind of diversity really made the conversation more colorful,” said Lemence. Lemence himself works for the Laguna provincial government, while Mejia studies civil engineering at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
“It gives you a sense of hope how, despite our different backgrounds and beliefs, we all strived and collaborated over these very real solutions with very real potential for solving issues plaguing the Asia Pacific region. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” added Mejia. Mejia was able to apply his engineering background during the design challenge when his group was selected as finalists for their solution for Road Safety.
WWF-Philippines National Youth Council Co-Chairpersons Kiana Porras and Romina Lim pose with young attendees to their talk, “SDG Tree: Health, Environment and Climate Change,” at #YOUTHCan: Unleashing the Power of the Youth. Photograph © WWF-Philippines
International Youth Day celebrations also reached Davao City as representatives from the NYC spoke at #YOUTHCan: Unleashing the Power of the Youth, a youth-focused event organized by Unilab Foundation that was held in Malayan Colleges Mindanao and SMX Convention Center from the 10th to the 12th of August.
Speaking to a room of fellow youths and Sanggunian Kabataan members for a class entitled SDG Tree: Health, Environment and Climate Change, WWF-Philippines NYC Co-Chairpersons Romina Lim and Kiana Porras discussed the ways in which our health is impacted by changing climates.
Issues on food insecurity, poor water quality, infectious diseases, respiratory illnesses, and weather-related deaths came to the foreground as Lim and Porras spoke with the audience about today’s most pressing environmental threats to mankind. With guests from across the development sector, Lim and Porras helped conduct a holistic conversation that encompassed a wide breadth of factors that affecting the health of the environment.
“If we were to achieve the other sustainable development goals – goals pertaining to climate action and to life on land and water – it’ll be much easier for us to ensure the health and wellbeing of even the most impoverished,” noted Lim. Through the NYC, both Lim and Porras act as champions and advocates for both the Sustainable Development Goals and the integrity of the environment.
“Having these chances to talk before our own generation about how crucial the environment is to us is always both a challenge and a privilege. We have to maximize every opportunity given to us, since there’s still a lot of work to do in this advocacy. The talk itself was great, too – you could really feel the audience’s generosity and desire to contribute,” added Porras.
The WWF-Philippines delegation at the 7th Asian Youth Forum. Photograph © WWF-Philippines
“It’s empowering to know that there are driven young people committed to solving these big issues. Even if things seem bleak, there’s still this growing community of young leaders serving in their own countries and regions,” said Mejia, reflecting on the scores of young people serving the planet in their respective fields. Ideas continue to come forth as youths from across the country continue to come together to discuss the issues that plague the modern world. In the face of a changing planet and an uncertain future, the next generation has risen to the task of building a tomorrow where man lives in harmony with nature.
For more information, please contact:
Isobel Resurreccion
National Youth Council Coordinator
kfiresurreccion@gmail.com
For media arrangements, please contact:
Mr. Dan Ramirez
Communications and Media Manager
dramirez@wwf.org.ph
